Lady Warriors State Volleyball Tournament

The LaGrange Academy Lady Warriors Volleyball team had a very successful and event-filled weekend! Making their 3rd straight appearance at the GISA State tournament, this time they earned their way into the top 8 teams in a combined A/AA/AAA single elimination tourney. The Lady Warriors finished region play on Friday the 16th with a win against Heirway Christian, which ranked them as the Region 3 #3 team. Tournament play began on Friday, the 23rd with the top 16 teams in the State.

 
“Our goal this year was simply to make it to the second round in the tournament. The girls had mentally and physically prepared, and they were ready!” In the first round of play on Friday afternoon, the Lady Warriors took the Christian Heritage Lady Lions to five games, winning the fifth game 16-14. Rachel Ware took advantage of Ashley Worthy’s skillfully placed sets and led the Warriors in kills, placing 15 between the lines! Zoe Herring and Taylor Smith each landed 7 kills in the match, while Molly McGowan and Ashley Worthy rounded play out with 6 each. Senior, Molly McGowan’s serves were on fire, as she finished the game with 5 aces and an 83% service success percentage. Defensively, the team played an aggressive match, where sophomore, Haley Hodnett, and eighth graders Lacey Worthy and Rachel Ware were tough on the back line; the Lady Lions couldn’t serve around them! Ware played a great net game as well, with a total of 6 blocks in the match while Taylor Smith stood out on the floor with digs, racking up 9 in the match. It was a close match, but the girls didn’t give up when they got tired; they rallied behind each other and pulled out the first ever LaGrange Academy volleyball win at State!

 
After the girls reached their goal of winning that first match, it was time to have fun! “It wasn’t about winning anymore, even though that was still definitely what we wanted. At this point, our goal in going up against the Region 4 #1 team, Augusta Prep, was just to play our game and have a good time!” The girls certainly did that.

 
The Lady Warriors came out strong at the net; defense was on, and we were going all out to win. With the Lady Warriors up 23-19 in the opening game, we played hard but just couldn’t pull out the win and fell to the Augusta Prep Cavaliers 26-24. The scoreboard definitely showed the relentlessness of the Warrior team as they lost in two more close battles; 25-20 and 25-18. Throughout the match, the Warriors were persistent and continued fighting, giving the Cavaliers a run for their money. Zoe Herring had an amazing 6 blocks against Prep’s hard hitters, Sarah Sussman and Alex Daitch, while Rachel Ware added 4 more blocks in the match. Haley Hodnett, Lacey Worthy and Rachel Ware were again a tough force in the back, successfully handling a combined 39 serve receptions from Prep’s solid servers. Lacey Worthy also closed the gaps in the back row and led the team with 10 digs, while older sister, Ashley played a smart game, placing her hits in the Cavaliers’ weak spots and scored 6 kills! The Warriors played an outstanding match and walked off the court with their heads held high, concluding their season with an overall record of 15-8! “I’ve never been more proud of the girls and the way they played together as a team. Each girl gave 100% of herself whether on the court or on the sideline cheering and that makes me prouder than anything else! They’ve had a great season and we’re sure to see a confident group coming back next year.”

 
As if two days of State volleyball wasn’t enough, the girls came back to LaGrange on Sunday and hosted their 2nd Annual Volley for the Cure Tournament with six teams made up of LaGrange Academy students, faculty, and friends. Everyone had a great time playing ball, and the competition was friendly but fierce! The tournament was a success and all the monies raised benefited the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. The Lady Warriors would like to thank everyone for their support throughout the season, and for helping us end our season on such a great note with this final tourney.